10 Video Games That Blatantly Ripped Off Iconic Franchises
5. Mighty No. 9
The Game: Actually, it's pretty hard to talk about this one without mentioning what it's ripping off.
The Game It Ripped Off: Mega Man.
Mighty No. 9 exists solely to be a spiritual successor to the Mega Man franchise - back when it actually needed one. In 2013, Keiji Inafune (former producer of the Mega Man series) decided to start a Kickstarter campaign for Mighty No. 9 in an effort to develop a new Mega Man-type game all on his own. The Kickstarter met its $900,000 goal in just two days.
If the game's development went as smoothly as it should have, then this wouldn't be considered a rip-off. Unfortunately, the Kickstarter was marred by mismanagement, poor communication, and constant delays. By the time that the game finally came out, the fans had already lost any hope that it'd resemble the concept they paid to fund. Many fans didn't get to play the game at all due to receiving broken game codes.
Upon release, Mighty No. 9 received negative reviews due to numerous issues. It featured bland levels and frustrating gameplay. Despite having a budget of $4 million, it failed to have the quality to match. Many reviewers dismissed it as a cheap imitation of the series that it was trying to replace. Those reviewers were pretty spot-on.